This post was originally wrote in back in March 2010, however since it is Barbie's 50th Birthday today I thought I would reshare.
What Barbie taught me about being a farm girl.
Growing up my sister and I loved Barbie. We had tons of dolls, the house, a couple cars, a Barbie horse, the clothes, a popcorn machine, a swimming pool, etc. And yes our Barbie's had bank accounts, money was usually exchanged in the form of Light Bright pegs (LiteBrites were used for many things, keep reading). Our Barbie's also were very involved in agriculture. The occupation of vet was quite often played.That was the great thing about Barbie she could be whoever we wanted her to be. So while our friends were playing Rockstar Barbie, ours were discussing treatment options or reproduction strategies for our cattle. Which leads me to my next story.
My parents didn't hid much from my sister and I as we were growing up. We knew the circle of life was apart of the farm. We also were pretty familiar with how it began. I remember we used to have this slide that looked kind of like a chute. (A chute is what we put cattle in to hold them still while we are working with them). And we had these stuffed animal dogs and horses that their bellies would velcro open and shut, revealing bean bag babies inside. It was always a surprise how many you would get the first time.
And this brings me back to the LiteBrites. Yup, those were the straws of semen for A.I. (artificial insemination). See where I am going - chute, stuffed animals that reproduce, semen. Yeah, that's right at the ages of six and eight my sister and I were A.I.ing our stuff animals, just like we had seen dad do it.
Guess we were destined to be farm girls.
* For those of your who didn't grow up on a farm we use A.I. as a way to source better genetics for our herd. A bull can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000 dollars and you can buy semen from $15 to $100. Since our farm is small this is a great way for us to use the same genetics as larger ranchers without the extra expense.
On a trip to Minneapolis we got to go to the Mall of America. Inside they had a Barbie store! Every girls dream.
You have read this article agriculture advocacy /
farm
with the title Happy 50th Birthday Barbie - Barbie Lessons on the Farm. You can bookmark this page URL https://miavamp22.blogspot.com/2012/03/happy-50th-birthday-barbie-barbie.html. Thanks!
